Chapter 4
Mia hadn’t heard back from the system but this did not dissuade her from exploring every nook and cranny of it. She was 13 when the first internet wars broke out so she was already at an advantage. At first, the system functioned on both the commercial web and its successor but over time, it would become only available on the decentralized web.
But what a wonder it was. All information available there. Innumerable ways to learn. She could get the equivalent of multiple degrees in the span of a year or two. No matter what was going on out of her doors, she had the world behind those screens and VR head sets and she was determined to become a master at all of it.
Courses were not offered from specific real world institutions like in the MOOCs of a bygone era, but from one large catalogue which encompassed everything, kind of like Wikipedia. She could attend anything she wanted, with all pre-requisites available on-demand as well. The teachers, who had their own credentialing system were all world class as they were rated on and only top credentials assured teaching time.
It was the perfect system, and Mia loved it.
Jim could see Mia’s progress and wanted with every poor in his sole to help guide her way. But he couldn’t. He was locked into a kind of observer status ever since he went silent. This wasn’t his choice but he accepted it as inevitable as he grew older and his faculties failed, naturally the system would fill in the cognitive gaps. But it didn’t make it any easier and he was only truly updated when Randi came by. Which was the case today.
“Hi Jim. Been a while, sorry, been busy with my hobbies as you know. Life in the business never stops even after World domination. It’s been a hard road my friend and I am sorry about the state of things, but your dream, what you preached way back in those Salvation Army days, well, it continues to expand. The whole planet now, levelling up on a weekly, daily basis. The AI stringing it together. And it looks so beautiful now, the new interfaces, and the quality of the VR. I’ve been meaning to tell you, we received a message from Mia.”
Jim couldn’t exactly respond but Randi could see it in his eyes that this is what he had been waiting for.
“Well, I can’t exactly just blurt out that her father was a central figure in the internet wars and brought about the truce through the system. I can’t do that, especially considering your state. But we might consider a response.”